Disney's Zootopia Blu-ray Review

In the animal city of Zootopia, Officer
Judy Hopps (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin) teams up with a devious fox
(voice of Jason Bateman) to solve a mystery targeting the city’s
predator animals.

Directed by Byron Howard and Rich
Moore.

THE DELIVERY

Disney’s Zootopia was a box office
smash when it was released in March, delivering a story of
acceptance, understanding and determination wrapped inside a
buddy-cop movie. It’s great fun, and a bit more mature than one
might expect. Set in a city where predators and prey live together in
harmony, bunny cop Judy Hopps (in a bubbly performance by Gennifer
Goodwin) is faced with animals going primal and attacking each other.
With the help of a con-artist fox named Nick Wilde (played with slick
aplomb by Jason Bateman), Judy takes on the case to unravel the
mystery.

Disney returns to the concept of using
animals instead of humans to tell a story, something that harkens
back to their Robin Hood era of the early 1970s. Like Robin Hood
before it, Zootopia delivers some endearing characters and an
entertaining story; the two share a kindred soul.

The animal city of Zootopia provides
plenty of opportunities for visual gags and cute critters that kids
will enjoy, but the screenplay (by Jared Bush and Phil Johnston) is a
bit more serious and carries an important message about how we should
perceive and treat others. While this dichotomy is largely
entertaining, it does drag down the tone of the film at
times.

The film sometimes loses its way when
it tries too hard to bring its message home. It’s an important
moral at the heart of this story, but the delivery is often too
heavy-handed, and it comes across like a parent lecturing a kid about
how they should treat others. Disney films are notorious for mixing
darker, serious tones with their light-hearted themes, and Zootopia
is no different. It just needed more laughs to make the tone lighter.
Younger kids may not find the whole “treat everyone equally”
theme interesting, and may find some parts tedious at times.

Some have taken issue with the themes
of the film, calling it too politically correct or even subversive.
Those criticisms, although sometimes valid, do not apply here.
There’s no cultural agenda at play, only a focus on the importance
of treating others how one would like to be treated. There’s
nothing wrong with reinforcing the Golden Rule, in my mind.

Zootopia is aimed squarely at older
kids, and the message it conveys is one that age set needs to hear.
Parents will be equally entertained with the snappy dialogue, and
there are plenty of pop culture references to pique their interest.
The Godfather references will likely go over the heads of the little
ones, but the adults will appreciate it. It’s one of the reasons
Zootopia works overall - it’s hard to deny the entertainment
factor, even when it tries too hard to make a point.

VIDEO AND AUDIO

There’s very little difference in the
animation quality between Disney Animation Studios (which produced
Zootopia) and Pixar (which still operates separately from Disney),
and the high definition video transfer makes this a reference-worthy
showcase disc. The colors are vivid and the detail is fantastic. The
audio is a robust 7.1 DTS soundtrack, with an effective surround
presentation.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The extras are mostly short featurettes
that cover various aspects of production, but they are effective, and
in several cases, insightful. The special features are as follows:

“Research: A True-Life Adventure”
featurette. The creative minds behind the film discuss their trip to
Africa, where their experiences inspired several of the film’s
characters. Running Time: 9:58

“The Origin Story of an Animal Tale”
featurette. This surprisingly honest look at the development of the
story is something you rarely see from filmmakers. Rather than a
fluff piece, the writers admit the story needed to go through several
creative stages. The original story was far different and a little
darker than what we saw on the screen, and the writers and directors
discuss how the refinement process made Zootopia a better film
overall. Running Time: 9:15

“Zoology: The Roundtables”
featurettes. Three featurettes (introduced by Ginnifer Goodwin) focus
on the characters, the environments, and the animation. In each
segment, the creative minds in those departments talk with each other
about how they made the magic happen. Running Time: 18:23

“Scoretopia” featurette.
Oscar-winning composer Michael Giacchino talks about his fantastic
score for the film. Several individual musicians who contributed to
the score (and rarely get any acclaim) are featured. Running time:
4:59

Digital Copy. A digital copy of the
film, which works with Disney Movies Anywhere, Amazon Video, and
Ultraviolet providers like VUDU, is included.

THE BOTTOM LINE: ZOOTOPIA IS A GREAT
PLACE TO VISIT

Fun, clever, and sporting a nice
message, Zootopia is entertaining for older kids and adults, although
younger kids may not find it as interesting. Solid extras and a top-shelf
technical presentation make it a worthy buy.

Victor Medina is a freelance writer based in Dallas. He is the editor of several websites, and his writing credits include The Dallas Morning News, Yahoo News, Cinelinx.com and SportsIllustrated.com. He has served as a Dallas County election judge and on the Board of Directors of The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. You can follow him on his blog, VictorMedina.com or on Twitter at @mrvictormedina. He can be reached by email at vic@victormedina.com.